


Museum Piece

by telperion_15



Category: Primeval
Genre: Action, Danger, Dinosaurs, Gen, Homage, Jurassic Park Rip-Off, Museums, Suspense, T-Rex - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-20
Updated: 2012-03-20
Packaged: 2017-11-02 06:46:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/366109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Natural History Museum contains more than fossils...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cabinet Of Curiosities

 

“This is a bit of a coincidence, don’t you think?” said Claudia.

“How so?” asked Cutter.

“Oh, come on – an anomaly in the Natural History Museum?” Claudia said sceptically. “The whole thing just reeks of a practical joke.” She glanced suspiciously at Connor, who looked offended.

“Hey, that’s not fair! I would never…”

“It’s not a joke,” Cutter interrupted firmly. “The guy in charge of security is very upset about his missing guard. Something’s definitely going on.”

Claudia sighed. “Tell me what he said again?” she asked wearily.

“Just that one of his guards radioed in saying he’d seen something – something not human. Then his radio went dead and they haven’t been able to raise him since.”

“Something not human,” Claudia repeated. “That could be nothing more than a mouse, you know.” But she knew she was clutching at straws, and gave in. “So where do we start looking, then?”

“The guard was apparently in the Darwin Centre when he got in contact,” said Cutter. “That’s the new annex on the side of the building.” He turned towards Stephen and the soldiers, who were grouped together a short distance away, consulting floor plans of the museum. “Do we know where we’re going?”

Stephen looked up. “Yep,” he replied. “The Darwin Centre’s on the other side of the mammals galleries – bit of a trek, I’m afraid.”

“Oh, I love the mammals galleries,” said Connor excitedly. “That giant blue whale is supercool!”

“You’re staying here,” said Ryan, joining the conversation. “The professor, Hart, Robertson, and I will check out this Darwin Centre. Davis and Bradshaw will remain here with you three.” His gaze included Claudia and Abby alongside Connor. “ _Wait_ until you hear from us – then we’ll decide what to do next.”

“But…”

“No arguments, Connor.”

Connor looked appealingly at Cutter and Stephen, the former of whom just shrugged while the latter grinned at him.

“Sorry, Connor,” said Stephen. “But you heard the man. We’ll be as quick as we can.”

Connor huffed in annoyance, obviously sulking, while Abby and Claudia exchanged long-suffering looks. What Davis and Bradshaw thought about being stuck in Connor’s ill-natured company was anybody’s guess – their faces remained impassive.

As Cutter, Stephen, Ryan, and Robertson disappeared into the shadows beside the main staircase, Connor wandered towards the entrance of the Dinosaurs gallery.

“Connor…” Claudia called warningly.

“I’m only going to take a look,” said Connor. “Who knows – I might find the anomaly.”

“I’ll go with him,” said Abby, with the air of a parent dealing with a difficult child. “We won’t be long. He won’t be able to see much in the dark, anyway.”

“Fine.  _Five_ minutes,” replied Claudia. “But take a torch. And make sure you have your radios on.”

“Will do.” Abby hurried off after Connor.

*   *   *   *   *

Connor halted in front of the final interpretation panel in the gallery. He thought it might have something to do with the extinction of the dinosaurs, but with the gallery lights off he couldn’t be sure.

He had shuffled bad-temperedly along the entire winding length of the gallery, ignoring Abby’s repeated whispered protests that they should really be getting back. He was sick of always being told to stay behind, to stay put in case he got into trouble. He wasn’t completely stupid – he knew how to handle himself in crisis. But the way Cutter, Stephen, and Ryan went on, it was clear they thought he would just get in the way.

Sighing heavily, Connor turned away from the panel. Maybe he could get into the shop and check out the merchandise – then he could order anything he wanted off the Internet later.

Then he noticed the light. It was a silvery, flickering glow coming from the next door gallery, and Connor was in no doubt about what was causing it.

He punched the air triumphantly. This would show Cutter and Claudia! They’d have to admit that he _was_ useful, after all.

Connor looked around for Abby, but she was nowhere in sight. Listening, he could hear her exclaiming over something further back down the gallery. Bit hypocritical, if you asked him – getting sidetracked after moaning at him about taking too long.

Oh well, she’d soon catch up to him. It just meant that he could claim the discovery of the anomaly as all his own. As he headed towards the doorway from which the light was coming, he tried to remember what was in the next gallery. Oh yeah, that was right! It was the room with the animatronic _Tyrannosaurus Rex_ in it. Connor would never admit it, but he’d once been a little scared by the model – it did look quite realistic, after all. Of course, that was before real life prehistoric creatures had tried to eat him. A jerky robot just didn’t compare after that.

There was a sign on a stand by the door to the gallery, but Connor only glanced at it quickly before ducking under the rope stretched across the doorway. As he entered the room the model T-Rex loomed above him, still now that it had been switched off for the night.

But Connor barely noticed it. He had been right. Down at the far end of the gallery, beyond the T-Rex, the anomaly hung in the air. Its effect in this darkened room was rather like that of a giant disco glitter ball – light and shadows chased each other across the walls and ceiling.

This was fantastic! Connor started to walk towards the anomaly, wanting to see if he could determine how strong it was, and how long it was likely to remain for.

Then something that had been niggling at him finally managed to barge its way to the front of his brain. What had that sign by the door said? He’d barely read it, but apparently his mind had taken in the words anyway.

_Notice to visitors._

_The T-Rex has been removed for essential maintenance until August 2007._

_Apologies for any inconvenience caused._

And now he noticed the sound. Soft breathing. Extraordinarily quiet, really, for something that big.

Connor looked up at the T-Rex. The T-Rex looked down at him.  _And it blinked_.

Slowly, so slowly, Connor started backing towards the door. All that stuff about a Tyrannosaur not being able to see you if you stayed still was utter bollocks, but even if it had been the truth, there was no way Connor was staying in a room with the greatest predator the world had ever seen only ten feet away.

The T-Rex carried on watching him. It seemed curious rather than anything else, and it was showing no signs of wanting to eat him. But Connor wasn’t about to take any chances. He moved steadily out the door, out of its line of sight, and then instantly turned, walking fast back the way he had come, desperate to find Abby. He didn’t run – something told him if he did that, the T-Rex would know. He suspected running generally equalled prey. And he didn’t want to be prey.

He ran into Abby halfway down the gallery.

“Connor! Where have you been? Look what I’ve found…”

“We have to go.” Connor grabbed her arm and started dragging her along with him.

“Connor! What are you…?”

“Trust me on this,” said Connor grimly. “We _really_ have to go.”

*   *   *   *   *

Cutter edged slowly down a dark aisle, trying to decide if it was one he’d already checked, or a different one. It was so bloody difficult to tell – they all looked the same. All narrow, and all lined with shelves filled with glass jars. Okay, so the jars were all filled with different things, but Cutter preferred not to check them too closely. For someone used to working with bones and fossils for a living, the Darwin Centre’s collection of pickled specimens wasn’t particularly appealing.

“Any sign?” Stephen’s whisper came from the next aisle over.

“Not so far.” That was Ryan, another aisle over again.

Cutter suppressed a sigh. This could take all night. The Darwin Centre comprised several floors of storerooms exactly like this one. All full of shadowy nooks and corners, and all perfectly capable of hiding a dinosaur – or a scared security guard – from the sight of two scientists and two soldiers.

He was just on the point of expressing this opinion when a quiet sound met his ears. He tensed, and although he couldn’t see any of the others, knew that they would have done as well.

There was a second of silence, and then Ryan said, as quietly as possible, “Move forward.”

The sound had seemed to come from in front of them, although it was difficult to really tell. Sound bounced oddly down these glass-lined alleyways – it could easily have come from behind them.

Cutter reached the end of his aisle at the same time as Ryan. A second later Stephen and Robertson stepped out next to them. They appeared to have come upon a laboratory area – there were lots of gleaming silver benches, and banks of cabinets that presumably contained more jars and preserving chemicals. And opposite them, behind the second row of benches, were three doors.

Ryan gestured them all forwards again, and they weaved through the benches, all checking carefully as they went in case something was lurking underneath them, ready to jump out.

But they reached the doors without incident, and Cutter made a questioning gesture – which one shall we try?

Ryan shrugged, and then positioned himself, with Robertson next to him, in front of the left hand door. They would just have to check them all.

Stephen placed his hand on the door handle, while Cutter moved back a couple of steps. On Ryan’s signal, the door was wrenched open, the two soldiers swiftly taking aim…

…at nothing. The door led into a storage cupboard, which was empty of anything except stacks and stacks of jars.

They repeated the process with the middle door, with the same results. And as Ryan and Robertson placed themselves in front of the last door, it was clear everyone was thinking that this one would be empty too. The sound they’d heard had probably been nothing – just one of those night noises.

Ryan counted down silently with his fingers. Three, two, one… Cutter braced himself, Stephen pulled the door open, and the soldiers aimed their weapons.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!”

The missing security guard was cowering on the floor of the cupboard, his arms over his head, obviously terrified. Cutter pushed his way past Ryan and Robertson, and crouched down next to him.

“It’s okay. You’re okay. No one’s going to hurt you.”

“Are you sure?”

Cutter smiled briefly. “Yes, I’m sure. Now, what’s your name?”

“Charlie. Charlie Smith.” The security guard lowered his arms slowly, revealing as he did so that he had a nasty bite on his right forearm.

“Hello, Charlie. I’m Nick Cutter. And these are my colleagues.” Cutter made a quick round of introductions. “Now, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you get that bite on your arm?”

“One of them did it,” replied Charlie, visibly shuddering.

Cutter looked sharply at the others. Stephen nodded quickly, while Ryan just looked resigned. “One of what?”

“One of them creatures. I don’t know what they were, but they looked like…” Charlie’s voice tailed off.

“Looked like what?” Stephen asked.

Charlie shook his head. “You’ll think I’m stupid,” he said.

“We promise we won’t think you’re stupid,” said Cutter firmly.

“Well, okay. They looked…like dinosaurs.” Charlie gave them a sheepish smile. “See? Now you think I’m bonkers.”

“We really don’t,” said Stephen dryly.

“What…you mean they _were_ dinosaurs?”

“We need to get him out of here,” said Ryan abruptly. “That bite doesn’t look too good, and who knows how many of the creatures there are around here.”

“Can you walk?” Cutter asked the security guard, who was looking between them all with an expression of amazement.

“Uh, yes. They only managed to take the chunk out of my arm before I shut myself in here. Although they did get my radio too. I dropped it and one of them stepped on it. Otherwise I would have radioed my manager for help.”

“How many of them were there?” Cutter tried not let any worry bleed into his voice – he didn’t want to scare Charlie again.

“Not sure. Maybe five or six? I only had my torch – and I didn’t really have time to count them. They didn’t seem to like the light, though. They kept ducking away when I shone it at them. That’s how I managed to keep them pretty much at bay so I could duck in here. Except for the one who decided I looked tasty, of course.”

“You probably just frightened it, that’s all. How big were they?”

“About three feet tall. They walked on two legs – I did notice that.”

“Definitely not trying to eat you, then,” said Stephen lightly. “Even with a few of them, you’re too big for them to seriously consider you as prey.”

“Well, that’s good to know.” Then Charlie winced as he flexed his injured arm.

“Right, come on. Time to go.” Cutter stood back as the guard scrambled to his feet. “We’ll take you back to the main hall. Some more of our team are there – they’ll see you get safely to a hospital.”

But at that moment Ryan’s radio crackled. “ _…ptain Ryan? Pro…sor …utter?”_

Claudia’s voice was faint and crackly – Ryan twisted a couple of knobs, trying to improve the reception, before answering.

“Miss Brown? What is it?”

“ _Cap… …an?_ ” She obviously couldn’t hear them, and the reception was getting worse.

Cutter grabbed the radio off Ryan, earning him an annoyed look from the soldier. But he didn’t notice. “Claudia? Claudia? Can you hear me?”

“ _…ick? Some…g’s here. Conn… says…_ ”

But whatever Connor had said was lost in a burst of static. Then, abruptly, the reception cleared, just in time for them all to hear Claudia’s voice say, quite distinctly, “Oh my god,” followed by a tinny, but ear-splitting roar. Then the radio went dead.


	2. Access For All

 

Shifting uneasily, Claudia willed herself not to start jumping at shadows. Everything was perfectly fine. The fact that Ryan, after notifying her that they’d reached the Darwin Centre, hadn’t radioed in again, and that Connor and Abby hadn’t returned from their explorations, meant nothing. The soldier was probably just waiting until he had something concrete to tell her. And, well, everyone knew what Connor was like once he got distracted. Although Claudia had hoped that Abby might keep him in line on this occasion.

Claudia had been to the Natural History Museum several times when she was a child. There had been the obligatory school trips, plus holiday excursions with parents, grandparents, and other relations. She remembered that she’d always enjoyed herself, although she couldn’t really recall going through the traditional dinosaur-mad phase that so many children seemed to experience. But nevertheless, she’d been fascinated by the fossils and specimens the museum had to offer. And she’d had a particular fondness for the giant diplodocus skeleton, next to which she was now standing. She seemed to remember that she’d christened him Bob, for no other reason than she’d thought he looked like a Bob.

But now, in the shadowy darkness lit only by dim emergency lighting, Bob looked faintly menacing. And the other specimens in the alcoves around the main hall seemed to be leaping at her out of the gloom.

Claudia shook her head angrily, annoyed at herself for her fanciful imaginings. She was a civil servant, after all – and civil servants were famous for not having any imagination.

Where were Connor and Abby? They definitely should have been back by now. If she had to send Davis or Bradshaw to find them she wasn’t going to be happy.

Sudden footsteps made her jump a little, and she turned to see two figures emerging from the Dinosaurs gallery.

“There you are! Where have you…” Claudia tailed off as she noticed the expressions on Connor and Abby’s faces. Both were clearly frightened, although Abby’s fear was tinged with confusion, and Connor’s had a grim edge to it that somehow made it even worse.

“We have to get out of here,” said the young man without preamble, as he halted in front of Claudia.

“What? Why?”

“I found the anomaly.”

“But that’s good, isn’t it? We can contact Cutter and the others and tell them to meet us there.”

“No!” Connor’s tone was emphatic. “We have to leave. Right now.”

“Connor, what is it? Is there a creature?”

“Oh yes. There’s a creature, alright.”

“Well? What is it then?”

“It’s as bad as it can possibly be, that’s what it is.”

“Connor…” Abby’s fright appeared to be dissipating in the face of exasperation at Connor’s melodramatics.

“It’s a T-Rex,” said Connor flatly. “Now do you see why we have to go?”

“A T-Rex?” questioned Abby. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure!” snapped Connor, suddenly showing a trace of panic. He turned to Claudia again. “Please, Claudia. Radio the professor and the others. Tell them to get out any way they can. We can’t stay here. We can’t do this on our own.”

Claudia’s own fear suddenly crystallised into determination. She held out a hand, and Davis passed her a radio.

“Captain Ryan? Professor Cutter?”

There was a pause, filled with nothing but static.

“Captain Ryan?”

This time there was a very faint response.

“ _…udia? Cl…ia? …hear me?”_  It sounded like Professor Cutter’s voice.

“Nick? Something’s here. Connor says it’s a T-Rex. We need to get out. Nick? Are you there?”

“Claudia…” Abby was shaking her arm urgently.

“What?” Then she noticed the faint vibrations in the floor beneath her feet. Her eyes found Abby’s, and they simultaneously turned to look at Connor.

But the young man wasn’t looking at them.  _His_ gaze was directed back towards the Dinosaurs gallery.

It was difficult to make things out in the low light, but Claudia had no problem discerning the huge shadow being cast on the wall by the gallery entrance. A huge shadow in a shape that, by rights, should have remained firmly in the land of the Hollywood movie.

Desperately, Claudia tried the radio again. She had to get through to Cutter and the others. But a low, rumbling growl stopped her before she could speak. Connor suddenly started backing hurriedly towards her, while Davis and Bradshaw grabbed her and Abby, pushing them behind them.

“Oh my god.”

The Tyrannosaur had obviously heard her. It hadn’t yet fully emerged from the gallery, but it clearly knew where its prey was. Claudia clapped her hands over her ears as it suddenly let loose a bone-chilling roar. Then Davis was pulling her away, shoving her towards one of the archways on the other side of the hall.

“Run!  _Run_!”

*   *   *   *   *

Cutter skidded to a halt and surveyed the carnage in dismay. Half of the giant diplodocus skeleton was in pieces on the floor, while the other half was teetering precariously as it waged – and looked to be losing – a battle with gravity. There were chunks of masonry scattered around too, and looking closer Cutter could see that the tiled floor was cracked in several places.

“What the hell did this?” Ryan asked in disbelief.

“Something big,” answered Cutter.

“Something mean,” put in Robertson.

“Well, whatever it was, it came from over there,” Stephen informed them, gesturing to the entrance of the Dinosaurs gallery, where pieces of Waterhouse architecture littered the floor. “Then it crossed the hall – without much concern for our long-necked friend, I’m afraid – and went through there.” Now he was pointing at the archway that was signposted as leading to the Earth galleries, where there were more signs of destruction.

“It was chasing something,” said Ryan. It wasn’t a question.

“Claudia and Connor and Abby,” agreed Cutter.

“And Davis and Bradshaw,” added Robertson.

“We should go after them,” said Cutter.

“And do what, exactly?” asked Ryan. “By the looks of it, we won’t be able to deal with whatever this is on our own. We need to wait for backup.”

“And what if Claudia and the others get eaten in the meantime?” demanded Cutter.

“What if _we_ get eaten?” responded Ryan pointedly.

Luckily the burgeoning argument was interrupted at that second by Ryan’s radio.

“ _Captain?_ ” The reception was clearer now, but Davis was whispering, which made it difficult to make out what he was saying. Ryan raised the radio close to his face.

“Lieutenant! Where are you?”

“ _By the bottom of the escalator in the Earth Hall._ ”

Stephen was hurriedly consulting his map. “That’s quite near the Exhibition Road entrance,” he said. “Tell them to get out that way.”

But Davis was apparently one step ahead of him.  “ _The exit down this end is locked up tight,_ ” he was saying. “ _We won’t be getting out this way._ ”

Cutter made a sudden grab for the radio, but Ryan kept it out of his reach this time. “Ask him if Claudia and the others are okay,” the professor said anxiously.

“ _Everyone’s here,_ ” Davis confirmed. “ _We think we’ve managed to evade the T-Rex for the time being, but we have no idea where it is now._ ”

Cutter and Stephen looked at each other in horror, and even Ryan and Robertson looked unnerved. A Tyrannosaurus Rex? Crap. This was not good.

There was a sudden scuffle on the other end of the radio, and then Cutter heard Claudia’s voice in the background, indistinct but obviously terrified.

“ _Shit._ ” David didn’t sound much calmer. “ _It’s found us. We’ve got to move._ ”

“Tell them to head up the escalator,” said Stephen suddenly. “It won’t be able to follow them up there, right?”

Davis seemed to have had the same idea. “ _We’re heading up,_ ” he relayed hurriedly. “ _Captain, just get out. Don’t wait for us. We’ll be fine._ ”

As Davis cut the connection Ryan lowered the radio and surveyed the men watching him. “So, are we going to do what the man says?” he asked, making it clear the question was rhetorical.

“No bloody way! We’re not leaving them!” Nods from the others backed Cutter up.

“But how are we going to find them?” Stephen was looking at the map again. “ _We_ can’t go to the escalator – not if the Tyrannosaur is there. But according to this, if we go up the stairs here, or up in the nearest lift, we won’t be able to get to them. The top floors in the two sections don’t connect.”

“Yes, they do.”

Cutter had almost forgotten the security guard was there. He’d been sitting quietly a few feet away, nursing his injured arm and obviously waiting for them to get him out.

“What do you mean?” Cutter asked, trying _not_ to sound like Charlie’s existence had temporarily slipped his mind.

“That map you’ve got is for the visitors,” Charlie explained. “There are corridors and stuff that only the staff can use that aren’t marked on it. You _can_ get from one section to the other on the upper floors.”

“Can you tell us how?” Stephen asked eagerly.

“I can do better than that – I’ll show you.”

“You need to get that arm seen to,” Ryan disagreed. “And besides, it’s too dangerous. You know what’s in here with us. Are you honestly telling me you want to stay in here with it?”

“No, I don’t,” Charlie admitted. “But I also want to help. And besides,” he added stubbornly, “all the doors up there will be security-locked. You need a keycard and the right code to get through them.”

“So give us your card and tell us the codes,” Ryan said.

“I want to help,” Charlie repeated obstinately. As he spoke he took off his tie and proceeded to wind it round his injured arm. “This’ll do as a bandage for now.” He glared at Ryan pointedly. “I’m not leaving.”

“Fine,” said Ryan exasperatedly, his expression showing clearly what he thought about having _another_ untrained civilian tagging along. “Lead the way, then.”

*   *   *   *   *

Claudia huddled against the balcony parapet as Davis and Bradshaw consulted in hushed whispers. Everything was quiet now.  _Too_ quiet. It was making Claudia jumpy. As if she wasn’t already scared enough.

After they’d made their escape up the escalator – which was bloody hard work considering it was switched off for the night, and the treads were slightly higher than those on normal stairs – they’d looked back down to the floor of the hall below to see the T-Rex bellowing in frustration, and then attacking the foot of the escalator, turning it into twisted metal in a matter of seconds.

But then it had disappeared again, and no one had seen sight nor sound of it for the past five minutes. And, ironically, that was making Claudia more nervous. Logically, she knew it couldn’t get up here – it was too big and clumsy for that. But all the same, she would have preferred to know where it was.

A quick exploration of their options had led them to discover that the lift that served the Earth galleries was also switched off out of hours, and that the stairs that led down from this balcony would take them straight back to the ground floor of the Earth Hall – _not_ somewhere Claudia wanted to go right now. They were effectively trapped.

Connor and Abby were sitting next to her, both looking shaken by their near miss with the Tyrannosaur. And they were obviously looking to her to decide what to do next. Which, since she was relying on the soldiers to get them out of here, meant that they were all waiting for Lieutenant Davis to come up with a plan.

Unfortunately, Claudia rather suspected there wasn’t going to _be_ a plan. They were out of options. They were just going to have to wait for something to happen.

“Miss Brown?” Davis was looking down at her, and Claudia hurriedly scrambled to her feet.

“Yes, what is it?” Although, judging by the look on the lieutenant’s face, she wasn’t going to like whatever ‘it’ was.

She was right.

“The only way down from here is the stairs at the end of the gallery,” said Davis. “Corporal Bradshaw and I are going to go down there and see if we can find a way out. Then we’ll come back with reinforcements.”

“And what about us?”

“Stay here. The Tyrannosaur can’t get you up here. You’ll be perfectly safe.”

“I don’t think so, lieutenant. If you’re going, then we’re all going.”

“With respect, Miss Brown, we can get along better without any…impediments.”

“You mean you don’t want to be lumbered with three useless civilians,” Claudia corrected him frostily. “I think we know what kind of things to expect in a situation like this, lieutenant. We’ve dealt with enough anomalies by now to…”

“Hey!” Abby’s vehement whisper cut through Claudia and Davis’ muttered argument, and they both looked at her in surprise.

“Can you hear that?” she said, obviously listening for something.

Claudia did likewise. Yes, she realised suddenly. There was a noise. It sounded like…footsteps. The sound was echoing slightly in the cavernous space, which was how Abby had heard them, although it was obvious that whatever was making them was trying to be quiet. And they were coming from around the corner, back in the direction of the top of the escalator.

Davis and Bradshaw immediately slid into action, moving smoothly but cautiously towards the corner of the parapet that currently obscured their view of the top of the escalator. Davis paused for a split second while Bradshaw got into position, and then, after an almost imperceptible signal, they both jumped out, guns raised.

There was a tense moment when nothing happened, and then Claudia saw both soldiers relax suddenly.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Davis asked. “Sir,” he added belatedly, and Claudia suddenly realised who it was who had found them. She hurried around the corner to find Cutter, Stephen, Ryan, Robertson, and a man she didn’t recognise all looking very relieved to see her.

“Are Connor and Abby here too?” Stephen was asking, just as the two people in question appeared behind Claudia. “Oh, never mind.”

“How on earth did you get up here?” Claudia asked. “The escalator’s ruined, and the lift’s out of action.”

“That would be thanks to Charlie here,” said Stephen. “We came through the tradesman’s entrance.”

Claudia raised a confused eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“We came though the staff corridors,” Cutter explained. “And if we go back that way we’ll come out at the top of the main hall. Then it’s a simple matter of getting downstairs and going out the front door.”

Out of the corner of her eye Claudia could see Ryan rolling his eyes at the professor’s optimistic attitude. She agreed with the sentiment. Like the soldier, she had the feeling that it wasn’t going to be quite as simple as Cutter made it sound.

“But what about the T-Rex?” asked Connor, pinpointing with unerring accuracy the probable, and rather large obstacle to an easy escape. “We don’t know where it is. It could be waiting for us down there. If it decides to head back to the anomaly, it’ll have to pass right through the main hall to get to it.”

“And what about the creatures that attacked me?” asked the man Stephen had called Charlie, who Claudia now noticed had a tie wrapped round his arm like a bandage. “Where have they gone?” He sounded a little nervous, as if afraid he was going to be yelled at for reminding them of yet another problem.

But Claudia had greater concerns than Charlie’s nerves. “What creatures?” she asked Cutter. “What is he talking about?”

“We’re not sure what they are,” Cutter confessed. “Although we know there are a few of them.”

“But no one’s seen them since Charlie shut himself in a cupboard to get away from them,” Stephen put in. “They may have gone back through the anomaly already.” But he didn’t sound convinced by his own reassurances, and Claudia mentally added another barrier to their escape route.

“There’s no point in worrying about these things until we have to,” Ryan announced suddenly, sounding surprisingly philosophical. “Hopefully the professor is right and we can just head downstairs and out the door. But that doesn’t mean everyone shouldn’t keep their eyes peeled. It’s still going to be dangerous.”


	3. Conservation Techniques

 

They had made it as far as the first floor balcony of the main hall, led by Charlie Smith, and Connor was beginning to believe that maybe the professor had been right, and perhaps they would make it out of here in one piece. They had only to proceed along the balcony through the Primates gallery, descend the main staircase at the opposite end of the hall, pass the shattered remnants of the diplodocus skeleton, and they would be at the exit. In fact, if it wasn’t for the human body’s aversion to dropping from a great height, they could have hopped over the balcony right here and landed right in front of the doors. Unfortunately, that _wasn’t_ an option – they would have to go the long way round.

“Not far now,” said Charlie unnecessarily, as he halted at the bottom of the steps leading down from the upper balcony to allow Connor, Abby, and Claudia to catch up. Davis was bringing up the rear, and he nodded at Ryan to indicate that nothing was tracking them.

“They’re going to have a bit of a job putting that back together,” Connor observed, peering over the balcony at the smashed diplodocus below them. “I hope they’ve got some spare parts.”

“Do you think vandals could have caused that much damage?” Claudia wondered aloud, obviously trying on a cover story for size.

“Probably,” said Stephen. “Although you may have more trouble explaining the mangled escalator and broken stonework.”

Connor opened his mouth to suggest that maybe the vandals had a JCB, but he was forestalled by a sudden high-pitched chittering sound coming from behind them.

“What was that?” Abby whispered.

Ryan held up a hand for silence. As a group they turned and looked along the balcony, towards the entrance to the Minerals gallery.

It was gloomier up here, with the upper balcony looming over their heads, but there was still enough light to make out the shapes clustered together at the corner of the balcony. At least six pairs of distinctly reptilian-looking eyes stared back at them.

“Are those what attacked you?” Cutter whispered to Charlie.

“Looks like them,” Charlie confirmed quietly.

“ _Troodon_ ,” Connor muttered. “Carnivorous, but thought to eat small mammals and possibly insects, so I don’t know why they attacked _you_ , Charlie.”

“They were probably scared,” said Cutter. “They’re out of their natural environment, they’ve never seen a humanoid before, and I expect he startled them.”

“Enough chatting,” Ryan interjected suddenly. “Even if these little darlings don’t want to eat us, they still don’t look particularly friendly. I say we move on.”

Everyone nodded in agreement – Charlie’s was particularly vehement.

“Okay. We’ll carry on down this side of the balcony as planned. Hopefully our visitors over there will just stay where they are. If one human is enough to scare them, then us lot all together must look bloody terrifying.”

Slowly, they backed away from the Troodon, Ryan and Davis keeping an eye on them as long as possible. As the creatures were finally blocked from sight by the corner of the balcony, the soldiers started shooing everyone along faster. But then Connor halted suddenly, Davis only narrowly avoiding running into his back.

“Wait! Can you hear that?”

The Troodon had started chittering again, more excitedly this time. And there was the unmistakeable sound of footsteps coming towards them.

“Move! Now!” Ryan’s order was sharp, and nobody had any problem obeying. They were halfway along the gallery when the first Troodon appeared at the corner. And as soon as the creatures caught sight of them they sped up, trotting after the humans, watching them intently as they came.

But there were only three of them. The rest were nowhere to be seen, although Connor suspected it was too much to hope that they’d simply not been as interested in the humans as their companions.

He was right. When they reached the stairs, Connor saw that the other three – no, wait, _four_ – Troodon were waiting for them at the top of the flight that led down from the opposite side of the balcony. They didn’t look particularly aggressive – they were just bobbing their heads occasionally and blinking – but with the other group approaching from behind, and these ones in front, Connor wasn’t feeling especially safe right now.

“Can we make it down the stairs?” whispered Claudia.

“We have to try,” replied Ryan. “Move steadily, everyone. No sudden movements, but if I tell you to run, head for the doors as fast as you can and don’t look back.”

As he moved down the stairs with the others, Connor tried to keep his eyes on the Troodon and not on his feet, even though he was in danger of tripping over someone else’s shoes, they were so closely bunched together. For a few seconds he thought they were going to be okay – the creatures were showing no signs of wanting to follow them now.  Maybe ten humans did present too much of a threat.

Then, as they reached the landing, he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slightly, he saw that the Troodon that had tracked them along the balcony apparently had no problem with being outnumbered – they were continuing to follow them down the stairs. And as he stumbled down the first couple of steps of the final flight, Abby staggering beside him, he saw that the group opposite had seemingly decided to follow their friends’ example. With a couple of swift hops, two of them were suddenly on the landing, no more than three feet away. Shoving their heads forward aggressively, they hissed menacingly.

“Run!” yelled Ryan abruptly, and then they were all lurching down the stairs, Ryan and Robertson moving backwards as they covered the Troodon with their weapons.

But when he reached the bottom of the stairs Connor skidded to a halt for the second time, and this time someone – Claudia, going by the gasp he heard in his ear – _did_ run into the back of him.

“Connor! What are you…?”

She trailed off as she noticed what he had noticed. More pairs of eyes watching them. Pairs of eyes that quickly resolved themselves into more Troodon, as the creatures emerged into the main hall from all directions. There were at least twenty-five of them, and as Ryan shepherded the group of humans towards the far doors in a last ditch attempt to get out, the Troodon quickly surrounded them, cutting them off from any escape route.

“I thought you said they only ate small things?” Abby muttered as the Troodon started chirping excitedly, several of them coming almost close enough to touch.

“They do!” Connor protested. “At least, that’s what all the books say,” he amended weakly.

One of the Troodon jumped forward suddenly. Charlie let out a surprised yell – the creature had caught hold of the dangling end of his makeshift bandage in its teeth, and was determinedly tugging at it.

“Unwind it! Quickly!” exclaimed Cutter. He and Stephen tried to help Charlie loosen the tie, which had somehow become tangled around his arm and hand, while simultaneously pulling back against the efforts of the Troodon. It was no match for the strength of three humans, but the animal seemed determined to win this tug of war, and several of its friends looked like they were considering helping out.

Everyone jumped as Ryan and Davis suddenly loosed off a few rounds at the feet of the closet Troodon – they leapt back in fright, chittering angrily, but Connor noticed that it didn’t take them long to start edging forward again.

“You know, if we were in _Jurassic Park_ , this would be the bit where the T-Rex suddenly comes to the rescue,” Claudia observed suddenly.

Connor looked at her in surprise. She just raised an eyebrow at him.

“What? I have seen that movie, you know. In fact, it used to be my favourite.  _Used_ to be.”

“Well, I wouldn’t count on it helping us out now,” said Cutter, as he finally unwound the last of the tie from Charlie’s hand and flung the ragged material away across the hall, where it was immediately jumped on by several Troodon, obviously attracted by the scent of blood.

“And besides, the last thing we need is a pissed off super-predator in here,” added Ryan. “Somehow, I don’t see that making things any better for us.”

“So what are we going to do, then?” said Abby sarcastically. “Just wait until this lot suddenly realise there’s enough of them to overwhelm us if they all leap at once?”

“We could try and shoot our way out,” said Davis, although he sounded doubtful.

“There’s no way we’d get enough of them before they got the upper hand,” said Ryan.

“Anyone got any other ideas, then?” asked Stephen.

Ryan sighed. “No,” he admitted. He turned to his fellow soldiers. “Looks like we’re going with Davis’ plan, lads. We’ll move as a group, one of us at each corner. Cover your own quadrants _only_ , even if you see that one of the others is in trouble. We leave any gaps, you can bet one of these little buggers will find a way through.”

Connor resisted the urge to shake his head. He wasn’t military-minded, but even he could see that this wasn’t going to work. There were just too many Troodon. In fact, he was sure their numbers had increased over the last couple of minutes. More seemed to have come through the anomaly – it must have opened near a particularly large flock (herd? mob?) of them.

But he didn’t say anything. Like Stephen had said, they were out of ideas. It was this or nothing.

And then, right on cue, and proving that on some occasions life really did imitate art (or, at least, Hollywood movies), the T-Rex burst into the hall from the direction of the Earth galleries. It bellowed once, deafeningly, and then swung its massive head at the nearest cluster of Troodon. Three of the little dinosaurs went flying through the air, squealing indignantly right up until the second that they hit the walls with bone-crushing force. A counter-swipe of the Tyrannosaur’s tail sent another four hurtling into the still-standing bits of the diplodocus – with a lurch the rest of the ribcage and the tail slumped to the floor in a cloud of dust.

The rest of the Troodon screeched at this new, and much more aggressive, invasion of their territory. About fifteen of them headed straight towards the T-Rex, jumping up all over its body as it roared again in irritation and pain. A few of the creatures remained focused on the humans, but Ryan and Davis despatched them quickly and efficiently, clearing the way.

“Go, go, go!” Ryan yelled.

No further encouragement was needed. Connor ducked as the Tyrannosaur’s tail headed towards him, pulling Abby down with him. But then they were past it, and the way to the doors was clear.

Right at the last moment, Connor turned and looked back. The T-Rex was still covered in Troodon, but it didn’t appear to be in too much trouble. Even with all of them biting it at once, the delicate jaws of the small theropods couldn’t do much damage to its massive bulk. As Connor watched, the T-Rex shook itself like a dog, and five or six of the Troodon flew off. With more room to manoeuvre now, the Tyrannosaur suddenly took off in the direction of the Dinosaurs gallery, the Troodon trailing after it like a pack of foxhounds. A few more chunks of masonry tumbled to the ground as the T-Rex shouldered its way through the arch, and then it and the Troodon were gone.

“Connor, come on!” exclaimed Abby, tugging on his arm. “Before they come back!”

Connor allowed himself to be pulled away, and they joined Cutter, Claudia, and the others on the steps outside the museum.

“They’ve gone,” he announced. “I think they headed back to the anomaly.”

“I hope you’re right,” replied Ryan. “But we’ll wait for backup and then go back in to be sure.”

Charlie was watching them all, wide-eyed. “Does this sort of thing happen to you a lot, then?” he asked.

Connor grinned at him. “You’d be surprised,” he said.


End file.
